Heel



March 25, 1947;

D. W. LAUZON HEEL Filed April 8, 1946 IN VEN TOR. De/or PM LGUjQfl ATTORIWE'Y Patented Mar. 25, 1947 HEEL Belor W. Lauzon, Lynn, Mass. Application April s, 1946, Serial No. 660,375

3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in leather heels and methods of making the same.

More particularly it relates to leather top lifts for heels, and to the method of making such lifts and applying them on heels.

Shoe heels as now made have a substantial body, for example, inch, more or less, for men, and substantially more than that for women, composed of successive lifts, or being a single block of wood or of composition, on which the top lift of sole leather is secured to constitute the finished heel surface of the completed shoe. Sometimes a lift of sole leather is added to such a body to be .next under the top lift. What ever device is employed for the seourement of the top lift, as by forcing it upon upstanding prongs, or applying an adhesive, or both, or neither, it is advisable to have nails driven from the outside, through the top lift. These are driven into the body of the heel, and may go so far as to be clinched through the inner sole. They are ordinarily driven in singly, one after another, and left with their heads at the surface of the leather. They have no beauty; and when worn they soon begin to clatter on the pavement.

It is one object of the present invention to reduce the number of operations, and the 1abor costs of manufacture, in making the top lift and in assembling it on the heel.

Another object is to improve the quality of the top lift.

And another object is to improve the finished aspect of the shoe, by making the heel be an attractive feature, such that a prospective purchaser, comparing a shoe embodying the invention with .a shoe having a heel as heretofore made, feels inclined toward purchasing that Which embodies the invention.

And still another object is to provide a new marketable product, viz, leather top lifts, molded by an earlier step in the method, so that they are marketable in individual packages to cobblers, and even to individuals who may wish to repair their own shoes, who can apply them by setting nails through the condensed regions according to the final steps of the method.

These advantages, and others, which will be seen in the top lifts herein described, are achieved by, as a first step, preliminarily molding the leather which is to constitute the top lift. This is a compressive molding of a piece of sole leather so as to change its thickness, in certain predetermined regio-ns, simultaneously and permanently. This step is executed in a machine and by a die. Assuming, for example, that the piece of leather that is being prepared to constitute the top lift is about 10 or 11 irons .thick,.the die may compress worn a long time.

it, all over its area, to about 8 irons thickness, except at the predetermined places where nails are to be driven through. At each nail location a ring of leather may be left upstanding, in its full original thickness; but within this ring, Where the head of the nail is to be, the original. surface may be depressed so as to make the body of leather stock which is under it be of about half the thickness to which the general remainder of the leather has been depressed, say to about a irons thick. A single pressing operation of the die accomplishes all of this, for however many nails are to be used, for fastening'the lift on the heel, for example, any number in the range from 3 nails to 9 nails. applied to the heel, and the heel to the shoe, in another single operation, in which a nailing machine drives the nails to whatever depth may have been planned. This machine is of course prearranged to operate for driving a nail at each of the places provided, and to drive to whatever depth is desired, which may be to make the nails each penetrate through the top lift, the heel, and the inner sole, to a clinch in the ordinary way, and to set the head of the nail down well below the surface of the top lift. In the completed heel the heads of the nails are visible, each sunken within a ring of leather which stands up above the general surface of the lift. If desired, the usual line of slugs may be added around the rear of the lift; and, as heretofore, these may be incorporated in the lift before it is applied, or may be put in afterwards.

When the shoe is worn the nails do not begin to clatter on the floor until the shoe has been The upstanding rings protect the main surface of the heel; and when they are worn away the condensation of fibres at the grain surface of the leather prolongs the wearing time before the heads of the nails begin to scrape on floors. Meantime, also, the condensation of fibres of grain stock and flesh stock under the heads of the nails makes the stock under the nail heads very strong. It will be understood that the degree of compression and condensation is a matter to be selected according to what may be desired; that the nails may be driven singly by hand, one by one, if preferred; and, in. general, that the skill of heel makers and shoe makers permits of the invention being applied in various ways withoutdeparting from the scope of the in vention.

It is intended that the claims shall particularly point out whatever is new and patentable in the heel and method of making heels herein disclosed.

In the accompanying drawing,

Figure 1 shows, in elevation and in section on The lift is then ready to be 7 3 the line I-l of Figure 2, a heel of a completed mans shoe embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a plan of the same, the shoe being upside down so that this shows the finish face of the top lift;

Figure 3 is an elevation of a fragment of a die. in section; and

Figure 4 is a corresponding elevation in section of a fragment of a top lift which has been compressed by the die of Fig. 3, with dotted lines showing the original level of the face of lift;

Figure 5 shows, in section,'the same fragment of top lift applied to the top of a heel, with its neighboring lift, and the nail going through where the body of the heel would be; and

Figure 6 is an interior view of the same fragment of the top lift, with stipple shading to in-' dicate the compressive effect of the molding operation of the die on the fibres at various parts of the leather.

'-The scale in Figures 3, 4 and 5 is enlarged over that of Figuresl and 2; and the scale of Figure 6 is still further enlarged. The drawing is somewhat diagrammatic, and it will be understood that the lift 10 which is underneath in Figure 1 is the top lift, it being customary to speak about the shoe in its upside down position, to which all of the other figures pertain. The showing here made of a mans heel applies also to heels of womens shoes, suitable adaptations being made.

Figure 2 shows the finished aspect of the face of the heel of Figure 1, the number of nails being amatter of choice. Around each nail 12, as illustrated, there is an upstanding ring l4 of leather. This is a finished surface of leather which stands at the original thickness of the piece of leather, above the general. surface l6, at a height which may vary according to choice, for example, 2 irons. The head of the nail I2 is sunken deeply within this ring l4, to below the level of the general'surface it. Thus each nail head is surrounded by a ring of leather which appears to be raised, because it stands up above the general level of the face of the top lift.

Figures'3 and 4 represent thepressure mechanism and that step of the process by which this shape'of the top lift is attained. Sole leather of good quality, of whatever thickness may be selected, for example 10 or 11 irons, is indicated as having initially had the thickness indicated in Figure 4 from the bottom line up to the dot ted line 20. This is represented as after being suitably supported, and having been compressed by the die 2| of Figure 5, which has face 22 which isv flat, except that it has the protuberance 24 at each place where provision is to be made for the driving of a nail l2, and except that this protuberance 24 is surrounded by a deep void 26 for the making of one of the lift rings M.

The leather that is to constitute the lift, having been suitably mounted on a rigid support (not-shown) the die 2| is to be forced down upon and into it. This leaves the ring l4 upstanding,

at the original level 20 of the face of the leather;

but it depresses the generality of the surface I6, seen in Figure 2, to the relative level which is marked H5 in Figure 4; and it depresses the place where the nail head 12 is to be, still more deep- 13', to the level 28. This depth may be chosen at discretion, and can be modified either by embodirnent in the die, or by having the die stroke stop before its full possible depth has been reached, that depth which is illustrated being at about half of the thickness to which the general body of the leather has been compressed. Upon removal of the die, the molded formation made by pressure of the die remains, and is sufiiciently permanent notwithstanding what slight recession occurs toward the original form by reason of the resilience of the leather.

This interior condition of the molded lift is illustrated on a larger scale in Figure 6, where the tippling indicates condensations of fibre. These occur along the surfaces where the compression has been applied, top and bottom, and are especially pronounced in the middle thickness and below under the nail heads. Preferably the die is shaped with its protuberant surfaces sloping so that their effect is one of compressing the surrounding leather rather than of tending to punch through it.

The height of the rings ['4 is a matter of choice; and if it be preferred they can be omitted. Although it is preferable to nail the lift to the heel and the heel to the shoe by a nailing machine, which will apply all of the nails simultaneously, it is obvious that the nails can be applied by hand, and individually, one after another; and that each can be set below the general surface of the lift, even though thus applied. Also the depth to which the nails will be set is a matter of choice, not necessarily so far below the general surface It as is illustrated. Other variations may be made. In Figure 1 the improved top lift I0 is applied to a heel body 30 by a nail l2 which goes through the outer sole 32, is clinched inside the inner sole 34 and is covered by a heel pad .36.

Top lifts thus prepared are useful not only in the initial making of a shoe, but-can be marketed to those who would repair the shoe; and for that purpose can be distributed by mail or by retail over the counter sale, as well as being supplied to journeymen cobblers and shoe repair establishments.

I claim as my invention:

1. A top lift for a heel, being a piece of leather de-formed from normal fiatnessby having a relatively slight depression of the generality of its surface, leaving elevations at nailing regions, within which elevated regions its surface is relatively deeply depressed to constitute nail head seats.

2. A top lift for a heel, being a piece of leather in whose thickness direction the fibres are somewhat condensed toward the flesh side, over its whole area except at nailing regions; and in the midsts of nailing regions the fibres are more condensed, toward the flesh side; except that in a ring around each such greater condensation the fibres are substantially in a state of normal density.

3. A top lift as in claim 1, in which the depressed surface within the elevations at nailing regions and above the nail seats has conical form,

DELOR'W. LAUZON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

- UNITED STATES PATENTS Date 

